Retaining well-performing staff reduces the amount of resources, particularly time and money, that OR leaders need to spend on recruiting and training new employees. Part 1 of this two-part series provided an overview of retention issues and discussed the importance of the leader’s role and a positive work culture (OR…

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Producing OR Manager each month and OR a.m. at the start of every day imposes a perpetual sense of time speeding by as we curate a wealth of information to help readers excel in their daily mission. We believe that OR Manager and OR a.m. together direct readers to the…

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Editor's Note Half of general surgery residents experience workplace mistreatment at least a few times a year, which greatly raises their risk of burnout and suicidal thoughts, finds a national survey that was presented October 28 at the American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress 2019 in San Francisco. Survey responses…

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OR nurse leaders are struggling not only to recruit staff, but to retain them—especially as younger generations begin to dominate the work pool. A 2019 study by Dowling Dols and colleagues found that Millennials were generally satisfied with their jobs, yet they anticipated staying with their current employer for 3.03…

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Recruiting OR staff who will best meet culture and competency expectations is a three-pronged process that starts with a sound marketing strategy, progresses to the application and interview stage, and concludes with the decision to hire and onboard. Parts 1 and 2 of this three-part series covered the roles that…

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Editor's Note This study found that the MINDBODYSTRONG for Healthcare Professionals program has excellent potential as an intervention for improving the mental health, healthy lifestyle beliefs and behaviors, and job satisfaction in newly licensed RNs. Of 89 new RNs (divided into two groups, intervention and control) participating in a nurse…

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Extensive research by Cori L. Ofstead, MSPH, and her colleagues at Ofstead & Associates (St Paul, Minnesota) has raised concerns about insufficient reprocessing of gastrointestinal endoscopes and ureteroscopes—even when recommended practices are followed—and their new study makes a compelling case for more stringent reprocessing of bronchoscopes as well. In their…

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Millennials will soon comprise 50% of the nursing workforce. They are sometimes criticized for lacking commitment because they change jobs more often than their older counterparts. Yet research finds patients are safer when nurses are satisfied with their work environments, so it would seem that newer nurses and nurse managers…

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Poor communication has been the root cause of many sentinel events over the years, and there has been growing recognition of how the work environment and culture influence patient outcomes. In a 2018 Sentinel Event Alert, the Joint Commission stressed the need to develop a “reporting culture”—to make it safe…

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Healthcare workers are at risk for bloodborne pathogen exposures in areas ranging from the clinic to the OR—both inpatient and outpatient settings. Such exposures not only cause anxiety, they cost an estimated $3,000 to $5,000 per exposure for things such as baseline and follow-up laboratory testing, treatment of exposed personnel,…

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